Small and midsize businesses that are looking for an ERP solution but aren't able to handle such things as cost and implementation have a new solution from SAP America Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. to consider.

SAP, of Newtown Square, Pa., and HP teamed last week to announce a hosted enterprise resource planning bundled service tailored to vertical industries. Based on software from SAP's MySAP suite and implementing HP's Palo Alto, Calif., data center, the solutions will be offered at a fixed monthly cost of about $325 per user.

The industry-specific solutions include a complete set of services such as implementation, user training, application management, and data center and telecommunication services, said officials of both companies. The combination of SAP's applications and HP's infrastructure was the deciding factor for Gary Walden, SAP project manager at C&H Sugar Co. Inc., in choosing SAP's hosted services.

"That's exactly why we did it," said Walden in Crockett, Calif. "We didn't want to have to deal with the infrastructure. They did everything, including putting the routers at our site. Whether SAP or HP does [the work,] I really don't care. I only have to deal with SAP."

To read an interview with SAP America's CEO, Bill McDermott, click here.

To start, SAP is focusing on four industries: oil and gas fuel distribution, consumer products/food, high-tech devices, and technical service providers. Rivals PeopleSoft Inc. and Oracle Corp. have hosted offerings similar to SAP and HP's.

This quarter, PeopleSoft plans to roll out a series of hosted management services that will provide enterprises with discrete management offerings based on four categories. With its namesake Application Management Services, the Pleasanton, Calif., company will focus on such areas as patch maintenance, database maintenance, and security administration and services, said Steve Earl, director of hosting strategy with PeopleSoft Hosting Services. More specific functionality and pricing details will be released later this quarter, said Earl.

For its part, Oracle, which has maintained a hosted software offering for the past four years, is putting more focus on its On Demand hosted services division. Last month, the Redwood Shores, Calif., company hired a new executive vice president, Jeurgen Rottler, to head the division. Prior to that, the company announced a new licensing structure of $125 per user per month for its hosted E-Business Suite.

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